Improvement in harpoons



C. RANDALL.

Bomb Lance.

Patented Dec. 3; 1846.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES RANDALL, OF PALMYRA, GEORGIA.

IMPROVEMENT lN HARPOONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4,872, dated December 3, 1846.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES RANDALL, of Palmyra, Lee county, State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Improvement on the Harpoon used for Catching Whales and other Fish; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being bad to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification.

I construct the head of the harpoon A in the common form. Behind the fluke O, I place the support D, connecting the shank S with the fluke 0. Behind this fluke O, I place the movable fluke B, into which the plate D is fitted, on which the movable fluke 13 turns, the rivet T passing through the two sides of fluke B and plate D. On the shank S, I leave the shoulder N, against which a corresponding shoulder on the inside end of fluke B rests, thus taking off all strain from the rivet, the fluke also resting against point 0. The dotted lines inclosing letter 0 show the position of fluke B when prepared to throw into the whale, the point of movable fluke being behind and following the cut of the stationary fluke 0, thus presenting no resistance to the entrance of the harpoon into the whale. After the harpoon is in and the warp tightened, (which is attached to the harpoon through the hole E, passing through the shank,) the point of the fluke B (the fluke being in the position shown by the dotted lines inclosing (J) will catch in the blubber, and as the harpoon draws will spread, thus -effectually preventing its drawing from the hole cut by the head-A. In the end of shank F, I drill a hole, as shown, around letter F, into which I put the shank to which the pole is attached, leaving a slack rope of some two feet, so that when the harpoon is fast in the whale and the rope tightened the shank and pole become detached from the head and draw from the hole the length of the slack rope, thus leaving nothing but the rope attached to the harpoon-head, thus avoiding all risk (which is great) of the shank being broken or twisting the harpoon out of the whale.

What I claim as my invention, and for which I desire to secure Letters Patent, is-

The attachment of the movable fluke B behind the stationary fluke O, resting against its point on the outer end and resting against the shoulder N in the shank, thus supporting the inner end withoutdepending on the rivet, which is liable to be weakened by rust.

CHARLES RANDALL.

Witnesses:

HENRY R. KNAPP, LYMAN DUDLY. 

